Multi-trade students go on-site with Westleigh

Leicester-based housebuilder Westleigh has invited students and staff from a local college to come on-site and experience life in construction first hand at one of its latest developments.

Senior site manager Mark Dixon led the visitors around the St Mary’s Park development in Aylestone, to provide an insight into what work in the new homes industry entails. The students from Leicester College are currently working on a range of trade skills qualifications, including Levels 1, 2 and 3 in bricklaying, plastering, and carpentry and joinery, and Level 3 Built Environment. The college is running an initiative which promotes the benefits of specialist occupations among its students.

The guests were welcomed with a talk from Dixon about his experience in quantity and land surveying, and with his views on the career prospects of working within the construction sector. He has a 28-year career in the industry, first as a bricklayer then moving up the ladder in different roles including assistant manager and site manager before promotion to his current position at Westleigh. He then escorted the students around the site, where the company is constructing a range of two-, three- and four-bedroom houses, and took questions from them about what they had seen and heard.

“I was delighted by my invitation to come and speak to pupils at Leicester College, and equally delighted to welcome them to our St Mary’s Park development. These students represent the future of the industry and I was more than happy to share my personal experiences of working in construction with them,” he says. “The site visit was intended to give pupils a feel for what it’s like to work on-site, as well as an understanding of how a housing development is constructed. We hope that the students enjoyed the experience and it has motivated them to continue pursuing a career in construction.”

Westleigh offers a range of apprenticeship schemes in bricklaying, carpentry, joinery and groundwork trades aimed at young people interested in working in the industry, who will complement their studies with hands-on experience at one of the company’s developments. The company takes its next batch of apprentices on this September.